More noob questions, opinions please....

E

Ezfish

Hi all,

Here are a few questions:

1. What BRAND of test kits do you like best for Calcium, Phosphates and Alkalinaty (not digital please)? I am currently using Seatest for the Phos. and Calcium tests and to be honest I don't thin I am doing them right.

2. When you install your retrofit kits (metal halide) where do you usually mount your ballists? Ontop of the canopy would look tacky in my case. In the stand is near the sump and on the outside of the stand in the corner could also get wet? Any other suggestions?

Thanks
 
I'm sure others will chime in. Here are what I personally do:

1. I use Salifert test kits. Nothing is better than this, IMHO.

2. I put my M58 ballasts in the garage and run the wires in my home office. No noise, no visual distraction :)

I also have seen others put them on a high stand, with drip loop, behind the tank.

HTH.
 
Agree on salifert

I have alway put the ballasts inside my stand (prior to my current setup where they are in a fishroom). Just make sure they are elevated off the ground slightly in case of leak or spill and there is a drip loop in the cord!
 
I use an electronic pH monitor, a refractometer for salinity, Salifert for calcium, magnesium, strontium, iodine/iodate, Lamotte for alkalinity.
 
I use Salifert test kits.

Ballasts shoudl be kept where they can stay dry. And since they get hot, consider where you put them. If it has to sit on the carpet, but something ceramic under it to dissipate the heat and prevent a risk of fire.

With my 280g reef, the ballasts are up above the tank.

On my 55g, the ballast for the VHOs was screwed on the back of the canopy. The MH ballasts were around the corner on the kitchen tile, hidden by a floor plant.

On my 29g, the ballasts were screwed inside the wall of the cabinet, where they would stay dry.
 
If I weren't such a lazy bum, I'd be using Salifert test kits from everything I've read... I've been planning to move my ballasts to the attic for a while now, but never got around to it. I finally just screwed my ballasts into the bottom of my stand (I.E. Hanging upside down off the roof of my stand). (But NOT over my sump!)

Another idea is, if you have the space, construct a small end-table like container (Or buy one) and put the ballasts into them next to the tank. Put a small fan in it to vent the air out the back that kicks on when the lights are on...
 
I've been using the seachem test kits cause I'm too poor for salifert at this point (just using it to test basics at the moment) and it seems to work pretty good. The seachem is supposedly second to salifert.
 
Hey Thanks all for the ideas... You have given me some things to think about when it comes to ballast placement.

Wow the Salifert test are a little more pricey than the others but if they work I won't compain. The probelm I am having now is my phosphates read 0 but I have enough alge and cyno I know there should be a trace of phosphates. Maybe as stated before the cyano/alge is absorbing it faster than the test kit can read..

The calcium test is funny It goes along the lines of add drops until the water turns "True" blue then multiply the drops by 15 and that is your PPM. Hehe, well to my eye and math my calcium is above 800 PPM so I know something is not right (I have not been adding calcium to the tank).

Ohh well if this wasn't a challenge I don't think it woudl be fun. Thanks for the info as always, your a great help.
 
Fish Gallery often has Salifert test kits at a very good price. You should call them up and ask which ones they have in stock and the prices.
 
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